"I thought it possessed just the right amount of odious pretentiousness," Morris wrote in a post to a Facebook group called Ye Old News-Pressers, "it was vague enough that readers couldn't tell if the column was written by a man or a woman because I certainly didn't want them to know it was written by me. Plus, being young and dumb, I thought readers would appreciate the irony of a critic named 'The Beef.'"

Bob Morris, founder of Story Farm in Orlando, created the Jean Le Boeuf pseudonym as restaurant critic for The News-Press in 1979.
(Photo:
linkedin.com/Special to The News-Press
)

The first Jean Le Boeuf column ran Dec. 21, 1979.

In it Morris, er, Le Boeuf, awarded the former Matlacha Oyster House a paltry one star, or "fair." He called the chowder, "thick and pasty," and the stuffed shrimp, "flavorless and overcooked."

And, without realizing it, he started a legacy that has continued for close to 35 years.

I am the current Jean Le Boeuf. I can't tell you who I am (Jean Le Boeuf's anonymity is, of course, sacrosanct), but I can tell you I was a Jean Le Boeuf fan long before I so luckily inherited this odiously pretentious nom de plume.

To honor the Le Boeuf legacy I started digging up JLB's roots. I pored over an eye-crossing amount of microfiche to uncover that inaugural 1979 review. I tracked down Bob Morris, and started connecting the dots that link him to me.

If our math/history is correct, then only 10 people have ever twirled forks as Jean Le Boeuf. Here I present some of their stories: Jean Le Boeuf's past, unmasked.

P.J.: Pre-Jean

Before there was a Jean Le Boeuf, former News-Press columnist and best-selling author Randy Wayne White reviewed area restaurants as The Roadside Gastronome.
(Photo:
The News-Press file photo
)

Before there was a Jean Le Boeuf there was a young writer named Randy Wayne White. White, who had yet to publish a word about Doc Ford, broke News-Press barriers in the mid-1970s.

"At that time The News-Press had a woman's section," White said. "I was the one to break through that gender line."

He did so with columns on boating and cigar shops, and with a weekly feature called The Roadside Gastronome, a sort of pre-Guy-Fieri "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives."

White wrote about Hickory Bar-B-Que, which still stands in the Iona area of south Fort Myers, and about the pies at the old Flora and Ella's in LaBelle. He sampled ribs from a place called Frank's BBQ on what is now Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Fort Myers.

And he hit a franchise called Ollie Burger.

"It was a New York fellow based in Miami — his thing was, 'Ollie Burger: The world's best hamburger,' and I took him to task on it," White laughed. "Well, Ollie drove over from Miami, in his striped costume and hat. He came into The News-Press. He had a plastic whistle and he said, 'Go Blow Ollie!,' and, you know, I respected him for that!"

The Roadside Gastronome was followed by a 1978 column called Taster's Choice by Kathy Fountain. Like many of the critics to come, Fountain fell into reviewing rather by accident.

"I'd started working as an assistant editor in the features department," Fountain said. "It was right when we were making the transition from a typewriter at every station to a computer. I had gone from covering murders and suicides and what we called 'The Cop Shop' to sitting in front of a computer screen."

To get out she reviewed restaurants, including The Veranda. On Nov. 9, 1979 she rated the downtown Fort Myers staple "Excellent," saying, "the food reveals a continental flair that would make a Southern Belle of aristocratic lineage proud to claim the recipes."

Jean's early years

Jean Le Boeuf's creator didn't stick around long. Morris left for a job in Orlando in 1980, leaving the door open for a young reporter who was known for bringing dinner to the office each night from new and unique restaurants.

Heidi Knapp-Rinella was just 22 when she became Jean Le Boeuf. The year was 1981. She held the title, on and off, until 1999 – longer than any other Le Boeuf.

"A couple named Tom and Linda Uhler did it for the short time before I started," Knapp-Rinella said, "then it was just me for a while."

Knapp-Rinella laid the groundwork for reviewing as it is done today.

"We really had to forge our way," she said, "because we didn't know what we were doing."

Things like not using credit cards to pay for review meals, "I did that at a little seafood place and the owner went through and traced all the receipts and found me," Knapp-Rinella said. "They called the editor and complained, said that I had lied about things and so on … so after that it was cash only, still is."

Knapp-Rinella left Fort Myers for Las Vegas in 1999, where she assumed the role of restaurant critic for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a job she still holds.

In late 1984, shortly before the birth of her daughter, Knapp-Rinella left the Jean Le Boeuf duties to Bill Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick, who was in his early 60s at the time, brought a well-traveled and more mature voice to the column during his stint.

He prided himself on avoiding chain restaurants, and veering away from places like The Ritz-Carlton, which he felt were out of reach for most readers. Now 89 and living in Cape Coral, Kilpatrick admitted he enjoyed his five years as Jean Le Boeuf, or, at least, most of them.

"It was a job that paled after a while," Kilpatrick said. "I thought, 'Oh Jesus, do I have to go out again tonight?' I just wanted to sit and put my feet up, but I had to go."

Jean grows up

Former lifestyles writer Karen Feldman, now the food critic for Florida Weekly, took her first turn as Jean Le Boeuf in 1992, continuing, on and off, until 2006. She saw Jean Le Boeuf go digital, get an email address, start a blog.

In the late 1990s, Feldman shared the Le Boeuf duties with Knapp-Rinella and Drew Sterwald, The News-Press' theater critic at the time. The trio switched off each week, a schedule that helped ease the eating load.

"People go, 'Oh my gosh, what a great job. I'd love that job!,' and it is a good job," Feldman said, "but there are nights when I want to get in my pajamas and have a tuna sandwich."

After Knapp-Rinella's departure, Feldman and Sterwald split the dining duties between them, helping to pave the way for me.

JLB 2.0

I can't say when exactly I started as Jean Le Boeuf, but I can say I helped secure JLB a place on Twitter, Facebook and even Instagram (Mon dieu!).

I learned from those who come before me: I pay with cash. I make reservations under other people's names. I keep a low profile. I don't make a fuss.

Unlike my predecessors, I meld multiple restaurant visits into each review, so no single receipt can be traced back to me or my table. If I have to, I take notes on my phone as though I'm texting (thankfully, albeit rudely, a trend these days). If the lighting is right and it's not too obvious, I take food pictures on my phone too.

Bob Morris couldn't imagine an iPhone-toting Jean Le Boeuf tweeting pics of his/her sous-vide tuna steaks to the Internet at large. I like to imagine where JLB will be 35 years from now: Beaming 3D flavor profiles of dishes to readers via chips implanted in their heads?